Social Networks Force Barilla Chairman To Apologize For His Anti-gay Remarks 456
ifchairscouldtalk writes "Pasta maker Barilla is in hot water over its chairman's anti-gay comments. Guido Barilla said his brand would 'never feature gays in ads' because Barilla does not agree with them. He added, '[if gay people] like our pasta and our advertising, they'll eat our pasta, if they don't like it then they will not eat it and they will eat another brand.' Vehement protest worldwide calling for a boycott of Barilla products via Twitter and Facebook forced the chairman to apologize with a video on Facebook."
Re: FFS (Score:3, Interesting)
How is disagreeing with someone a sign of fear (phobia)?
Re:Old people (Score:5, Interesting)
Each generation is brainwashed into a different Matrix. 'Founding Fathers' and other great men until 1960s would by today's brainwashing be denounced as racist, sexist homophobes. Kids of tomorrow may denounce you as a hateful old polygamophobe, pedophilophobe, zoophilophobe, necrophilophobe, fetishphobe, toesuckingphobe, kleptophobe.... And then you too will wonder, what the heck is wrong with these kids, while they will insist that you vet your public speaking with younger, more enlightened folks before making a fool out of yourself. Having lived in a communist country as it flipped into its exact opposite, then not long after that it flipped back, you wouldn't believe how quickly and how thoroughly the tune in schools and media changes the dominant mythology to its complete opposite. Once you experience it, you can't take any of them very seriously.
Of course, not all Matrices are created equal. Since each Matrix is a computational process, working out yet another provisional solution to the social harmonization puzzle, you can't know which is a good and which a poor solution until some time time has passed and the latest experimental solution had a chance to get tested under variety of conditions. As the old book taught, you will know them by their fruits.
Gay community takes themselves down a notch? (Score:5, Interesting)
Firstly, why are Barilla's remarks considered anti-gay? I don't feel they are. His position is that if you like his pasta, gay or not, you are free to buy it.
Secondly, there is no universal "book of law" that states Barilla's beliefs & values must reflect anybody or everybody else's. Hypocrisy abounds. The fervor of gay community elements have reached shrieking "reverse discrimination" pitches.
Thirdly, Barilla owes nothing to the gay community. He makes pasta. I think if he doesn't want to feature homosexuality as a cornerstone to a freaking pasta advertisement, that should be his choice. Why should he be forced politicize pasta?
Re: FFS (Score:2, Interesting)
If he is allowed to run he company as he wishes, he should be prepared to deal with the backlash when spouting out such homophobic responses. If you are the chairman of a company you must keep in mind your public image because you are not just representing yourself when you speak out like this. Especially, if you are talking about your companies products.
He is NOT homophobic is he decides for whatever reason (religion i suspect) that he doesn't want his company to promote a lifestyle he doesn't agree with. He didn't say gay people could not buy his pasta or that gay people should be put in pasta free concentration camps. He didn't even tell gay people to not be gay. He just said he didn't want gay people advertising his product. His company, his right to do that. He did not take away anyone's freedom. As if who you have sex with is some kind of protected civil liberty.
But that's not what is happening here (Score:2, Interesting)
The pasta company said it happily serves gays, sells to gays, etc (no anti-gay anything) but that the corporate image is of a traditional family sitting down to a home-cooked (cooked by a mom, no less) meal... and that gays in the ads would be inconsistent with that corporate image (which it would). Corporate images are very important parts of marketing plans (think KFC and "the Colonel") the image does not have to be logical, rational, etc (Budweiser frogs?) but it is important for branding that it be consistent.
Ahh, but OH NO! the uber-tolerant left finds this completely INTOLERABLE!!!!
Under the rules of "tolerance" we may all think what we think and believe what we believe and live as we wish to live... unless we disagree with them and their ever-mutating, evolving standards. The moment somebody says something that can be in some way twisted into so-called "hate speech", these paragons of peace, love and tolerance HATE him. Off with his head! Destroy his business! His right to freedom ends anywhere their rhetorical fists choose to fly. They refuse to acknowledge his right to market to average families with the images of average families. By this standard, gays should be banned from using gay imagery to market products to gays (by not using straights, they are being HATERS!)
The extreme dishonesty and duplicity of the left on cultural issues is tiresome and juvenile... it's where you end up when the focus of your life is on what's between your legs (see: gay pride parade)